Plainwell's Drug & Laboratory granted state permit for expansion

A team of workers from Plainwell Drug & Laboratory sorts through old batteries, chemicals and other hazardous materials accumulated during a collection of household hazardous waste at the St. Joseph County Fairgrounds in Centreville.Gazette file

PLAINWELL, MI -- Two years after applying for a license from the state of Michigan to expand its operations, Drug & Laboratory Disposal Inc. in Plainwell has been issued the permit and now plans to start building up to five additions next year or in 2014.

Drug & Lab, at 331 Broad St., applied for the license from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in the fall of 2010 and learned on Sept. 25 that the license was issued. The company's president, Brent Walter, signed the paperwork on Sept. 28.

"We're excited about the license and the new possibilities it brings," Walter said. The expansion is expected to cost between $4 million and $8 million.

The 35-year-old company stores and treats chemical, household, laboratory and medical hazardous and nonhazardous waste from about 600 companies. About 98 percent of the companies are in Michigan.

After Drug & Lab treats the waste, it is trucked to other larger facilities where it is disposed of. The company has about 6,480 square feet of space that was already licensed for storing and treating hazardous waste.

Besides allowing the company to build up to five additions, the state license also will allow Drug & Lab to store and treat hazardous waste in another existing area after a professional engineer inspects and certifies it, tentatively by Oct. 25. The area, a 12,400-square-foot space, is currently used for treating and storing nonhazardous waste.

Drug & Lab leases its existing facility and the 3.7 acres on which it sits from Folley Inc., a real estate holding company. Drug & Lab and Folley share the same address. Walter also is president of Folley.

He said Folley will buy an adjacent 20 acres on Drug & Lab's north and east sides from the city of Plainwell for $1. Four of the five additions will be built on 10.84 of those acres. No plans exist for the remaining acreage.

The first of the five additions will be built on land the company already owns. Walter said he hopes that Folley will buy the 20 acres next year and said construction of the additions should begin in 2013 or 2014, "depending on the economy and business conditions."

The five additions will have a total of 58,900 square feet. One addition will hold up to 2,080 55-gallon drums of hazardous waste, another addition will house up to 15 6,000-gallon storage tanks, and another area will have loading docks.

The expansion plan's final phase would be the construction of a railroad spur, which would be connected to the Norfolk Southern Corp. railroad that runs between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids, Drug & Lab spokeswoman Sharon Joles said. The expansion plan will be completed within 10 years.

Drug & Lab has 46 full-time employees and 13 part-time workers. Walter said he might hire more people next year for full- and part-time positions but said he wasn't yet sure how many people would be hired.